phantom being quiet and uncanny valley but extremely curious and has a strong desire to learn. he pops up behind aether without a sound and scares the living shit out of him when he asks a question.

aether patiently answering phantom's endless waterfall of questions despite how exhausted he is.

aether opening phantom's chest cavity to do some work on the hardware and phantom being incredibly flustered and not knowing why.

phantom watching aether flirt absent mindedly with anyone who wanders into the lab and not knowing why his insides feel so heavy and why he wishes aether would stop talking to them.

his everyday legs are very bottom heavy with a thick layer of silicone for durability. he has small toes, similar to that of a cat paw, for mobility. they learned very quickly that thinner legs broke too easily and did not have enough weight on the bottom, so he fell often. the thick cat paw design was ideal for everyday use.

for concerts, he has more humanoid legs. its easier for disguise and keeping his. robot-ness a secret. they are fragile and not good for movement though, so theyre saved for those special circumstances.

Quintessence magic is very electric, which makes it much easier for Aether to make the robot than a human. he could understand what was going wrong in a second.

the other ghouls would sit in the lab with him and give him company. Cumulus would come to make sure he's eaten and taken care of himself, Rain would come to tell him the drama he's been missing, and Swiss was sure to annoy the shit out of Aether in an attempt to make the scientist smile.

Dewdrop visited often, but his visits were less friendly. he'd argue with Aether about how unfair it was that Aether was being forced to leave or how he should've told Copia that he wouldn't do it. he'd silently cry as he watched Aether work on the thing that would take his place. he made it very obvious that he detested the bot and nothing would change his mind.

when the bot was complete, it didn't have a name for a while. they all referred to it as "Bug" because his eyes were always wide with curiosity.

Bug stayed in the lab for the most part since Aether was worried about him becoming damaged too early. the other ghouls would pop in a socialise with him, and he quickly picked up a lot of their personalities and quirks. Mountain's big words, Cirrus' loud laugh, Rain's flare for dramatics. he was becoming a collage of everyone.

everyone except Dewdrop, who had never visited.

eventually, they gave him the official name of Phantom, due to his uncanny look and his ability to show up behind you without a sound. he was allowed to walk around the ministry after a while and he quickly became a part of the pack despite the fact he wasn't like them.

The whole day had been stressful. The infirmary was packed with siblings of sin due to a spreading flu, and the tour was supposed to start in a few days.

Phantom's first tour.

Aether couldn't find Phantom after their long day in the infirmary, but knew where to find him.

He peaked his head into the practice room and saw the robot in question sat on a stool, strumming out a relatively hard part of a song. Phantom perked up at Aether's entry before immediately fumbling a chord. He swore under his breath and sighed.

"You'll get there eventually," Aether reassured. He stepped forward and gave Phantom a warm smile.

Phantom's tail lashed behind him, a clear signal of his frustration, "I should have got it already, it's been weeks of practice. It has to be perfect."

Aether planted a hand in the robot's curls, ruffling his hair a bit and thumbing over the led display of his horns, "You need a break. It'll come to you easier after some rest. You've had a long day."

"I don't think it works like that for me," The smile that came to him was unavoidable. It always was with Aether.

He let himself be dragged out of the practice room, following Aether's lead with his hand in his.

The halls were empty as they walked through them, the only sound being that of Aether's boots and Phantom's heavy feet on the tile beneath them.

They slipped through a side door that lead outdoors to a grassy clearing. Aether lead him to the middle of it before dropping into the grass, laying on his back with his hands behind his head. Phantom rolled his eyes before laying beside him.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few moments. The frogs sang their song and the crickets played as their accompaniment.

"This time of night, the stars are beautiful," Aether's voice was uncharacteristically soft. Phantom turned his head to look at him. The moonlight shined against his horns, gave his smile a glow he'd yet to see. His gold eyes sparkled with the stars.

Aether glanced over at him and his eyes softened, making something in Phantom whir to life.

He forced himself to look back up at the stars. He knew these constellations well, they were what brought him life. It was his entire being. There was probably some connection he could make between that and the way Aether looked right now, but he couldn't put the words together.

"Due to how light years work, when we see something in space, we're looking at it in the past. We're seeing the stars how they looked millions of years ago. There's a large chance the stars we see now have been dead for eons," is what Phantom said instead.

Aether looked back up at the sky, "That means the stars see an Earth where neither of us exist yet."

The response came to Phantom easily. "That's not an Earth I want to live on," He glanced at Aether, "An Earth without you, I mean."

He watched Aether's cheeks turn a deep shade of violet, "Yeah?" His voice was softer than before, almost a whisper. His eyes didn't look away from the sky, but Phantom didn't mind.

"Yeah," the silence returned after that. The animals of the night continued their symphony.